Spring
Medium
Mezzotint; third state of five
Dimensions
Image: 5 in. × 9 11/16 in. (12.7 × 24.6 cm) Plate: 6 1/8 × 10 1/8 in. (15.6 × 25.7 cm) Sheet: 11 5/8 × 17 1/4 in. (29.5 × 43.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1925
Accession Number
25.51.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
"Spring," a captivating mezzotint from 1830, showcases the masterful collaboration between English Romantic painter John Constable and engraver David Lucas. Created as the third state of five in's ambitious series *English Landscapes*, this print translates Constable's luminous oil sketch into a richly toned work depicting a serene pastoral scene. With its windmill, farmstead, horses, and expansive landscape bathed in soft spring light, it evokes the fleeting beauty of the English countryside—likely inspired by the Suffolk-Derbyshire border near Constable's beloved Dedham Vale. Mezzotint, a t...
About the Artist
David Lucas|John Constable · 1802–1881
**David Lucas (1802–1881)** David Lucas was born in 1802 in Geddington Chase, Northamptonshire, the son of a farmer.) A chance encounter in 1820 led him to become a pupil of the renowned engraver Samuel William Reynolds, under whom he apprenticed in London until 1827, mastering the art of mezzotint engraving.) By 1827, Lucas had published his first mezzotints, showcasing his precocious talent for...